Gentle & Glowing: ‘Specific Beauty’ Products For Ethnic Skin

My mother always told me: “Your face is your prize.” Regardless of how correct she actually was, I watched her spend hundreds of dollars on face products every month. Cleanser, Serum, Moisturizer – at about $30 to $70 a pop – were part of my vocabulary very early on.

So, imagine my dismay when I was old enough to understand that I have overwhelmingly dry skin! And so began my quest – reading product labels, obsessively looking for keywords like “moisturizing” and “nourishing.” Getting excited by bright packaging on products and learning (too late) that it didn’t work on my skin. When I skimped on price, I wasn’t happy with the results – and when I splurged, I couldn’t keep the expensive habit going (a girl’s gotta eat!).

Enter Specific Beauty and their Specific Beauty Regimen. I jumped at the opportunity to try their products for a few reasons:
1. Nice, simple packaging. They weren’t trying to bamboozle me with bright pictures or a weird looking bottle.
2. Their tag line: “For Multi-Hued Skin Tones” – That’s all me! Not to mention many of my fellow women of color who struggle to achieve clear skin and find products to keep it that way.
3. I saw SPF on the label. They want to keep me moisturized AND protected from the Sun? Let’s dance.

The Specific Beauty Regimen begins with their Daily Gentle Cleanser. I loved that their cleanser left my skin feeling clean without gunk or residue. I’ve encountered cleansers that left my skin with a weird film of something. I was pleasantly surprised when that wasn’t the case with Specific Beauty. Bonus: It’s gentle enough to be used twice a day!

Next up in the Regimen is the Skin Brightening Serum. My face felt rewarded before even getting to the official moisturizer! It goes on smooth and it’s very silky. Specific Beauty recommends Morning usage: “In the morning the Skin Brightening Serum is applied as a spot therapy. This skin treatment utilizes licorice root extract, retinol, and ginger root extract to target dark spots and uneven skin tone.” That roughly translates to: Yeah, this stuff is GOOD.

After applying the Skin Brightening Serum, I was ready for the Daily Hydrating Lotion SPF 30. Like I said, SPF equals ‘Awesome’. But that’s not all – this is probably one of the most hydrating face lotions I’ve ever tried. My face felt hydrated all day and wasn’t at all greasy nor heavy. This was definitely my favorite part of the regimen.

Oh, you say you do your beauty regimen at night so you don’t need SPF? You’ll be happy to know that Specific Beauty has a ‘Night Treatment Complex’ for your beauty rest. This formula feels a tad heavier than the daytime lotion which makes perfect sense; thicker lotion means that no matter how much I rolled my face around my pillow and bed, I woke up with moisturized, nourished skin. Which, last time I checked, is a very good thing.

After being on the Specific Beauty Regimen for a week, I noticed a vast improvement in my skin. My face looked brighter and problem areas that usually flaked from dryness were not only in tact, but actually looking radiant. For a grand total of $70 – you’re getting major bang for your buck. If you don’t want to buy the entire set, individual items are sold at reasonable prices starting at $8.99 for the Daily Gentle Cleanser.

Specific Beauty gained a new customer with me, and I recommend it to any woman looking to hydrate and even-out her skin tone. Hell, I’m about to call my mom and tell her the real prize is finding products that work well for your skin AND keeping your wallet happy.